freaky cheap gardening movie project - 200 square feet on YOUR property

Christopher Weeks wrote:

Mike Haasl wrote:Movie minutes may be preferentially allotted to gardens that more closely align with Paul's ethics.

I'm imagining a lot of it will come down to this - assuming enough people play to give Paul all the choices he'd like. The farther out beyond organic you are, assuming success of some level, the more he'll want to use your stuff. (Along with the other priorities like product divided by work.)

It will be hard to argue with success.  At the same time, if it doesn't meet our permaculture values, I don't want it in my movie.

I guess a big part of this is: do we have 3 people that make it to the finish line?  Or maybe 300?  With 300 I think I will be forced to be very selective.

Big Calories from Pitiful Dirt

paul wheaton wrote:good points!
....

animal byproducts:  provided they come from within 500 feet of the garden.  Even more, some people might choose to run animals into the garden (eat the bugs and poop out fertilizer).  And you are correct, there would need to be some level of confirmation about organic-ness, and being raised without off-site feeds.

In 4a

My meat pigeons get whole viable grains from feed stores, so the compost they have already made me for the past decade: off limits?

A neighbor 200' away has a sunnier spot, and wants to start a garden on what is moraine. I have about 200sq ft shaded left I planned to try onions.

I don't entirely get the gist of ghost inputs, 500', and I don't think I could help my neighbor get good results without some top soil, or leaf bag scrounging (I am known for trading empty bags for full ones)

Just hoping for pointers to figure out if we can contribute.  Oh and I am offline but she has satellite internet.

Thanks and reducing from 1 acre to 200 Sq ft is excellent

What degree of mechanization are you encouraging/expecting/permitting? Tiller? Chainsaw? Chipper? Tractor? Mower? Is there a difference if it's Electric v. Gas?

From Dirt to Soil: A Permie Movie

Raw Land to Garden Bounty: 2024 Permaculture Challenge

The Dirt Derby: Cold Climate Garden Contest

I want this to be a movie that people will watch and then try growing their first garden.  A little effort, about $20 in seeds and then they might end up saving $1000 in food.  And they did it without buying toxic gick, and without accidentally adding toxic gick.  It is highly probable that the food they grew is of a higher quality than the very best food they could buy within a hundred miles.  

Maybe it saves $1000 in groceries plus a few trips to the grocery store.  And because the taste and quality are higher, maybe they will have more luxuriant/productive lives with less health challenges.



Another angle ....

What hobby in men gives you "green flag" vibes?

#1 answer is produce firewood

#3 gardening

#4 well cared for houseplants

Apparently, permaculture activities make you sexy.  :)



I hope to make a movie that has six people starting with six different challenges and using six different recipes for success.  All with permaculture values combined with several bonus values added on for this project.  I want to end up with the sensation of this being an utterly epic movie.  For a long list of reasons.

Ra Kenworth wrote:My meat pigeons get whole viable grains from feed stores, so the compost they have already made me for the past decade: off limits?

Correct.  Not allowed.  

Of course, why not grow food for your pigeons?

A neighbor 200' away has a sunnier spot, and wants to start a garden on what is moraine. I have about 200sq ft shaded left I planned to try onions.

I don't entirely get the gist of ghost inputs, 500', and I don't think I could help my neighbor get good results without some top soil, or leaf bag scrounging (I am known for trading empty bags for full ones)

Just hoping for pointers to figure out if we can contribute.  Oh and I am offline but she has satellite internet.

Thanks and reducing from 1 acre to 200 Sq ft is excellent

We have heaps of forums here for talking about how to pull it off.  

As for this project:  the moment you bring in topsoil, you are disqualified.  This is a movie to teach people about growing food on dirt - an act which will, in time, build good soil.

Christopher Weeks wrote:What degree of mechanization are you encouraging/expecting/permitting? Tiller? Chainsaw? Chipper? Tractor? Mower? Is there a difference if it's Electric v. Gas?

Chipper is definitely out.

Chainsaw is fine.

Tractor is out.

Mower?  Give me some context please.

running a tiller on dirt is fine. Although with just 200 square feet, I would prefer to see something done that doesn't seem like a barrier to gardening (renting/buying a tiller).  So I will say that running a tiller is discouraged.

Electric is better than gas, but electric can be challenging to find.

All that said:  I like the idea that at least one submission is hugelkultur and that might involve renting an excavator for a day.  I also like the idea that at least one person digs the hugelkultur by hand

like this



https://permies.com/t/96953/making-quick-foot-tall-hugelkultur


The justification for renting the excavator would be that it sets things up for the next 40 years.  So if it cost $400 then it is sorta like it cost only $10.

Perhaps a media partner would be interested in helping to produce and possibly subsidize this long-term experiment. Seems that there is recent research into how small plot farming should spread: https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2024/02/the-first-large-scale-study-to-quantify-the-carbon-footprint-of-urban-farming-yields-surprises/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-first-large-scale-study-to-quantify-the-carbon-footprint-of-urban-farming-yields-surprises

Thank you for taking the time to clarify :-)

paul wheaton wrote:..why not grow food for your pigeons?

I do but it's not enough: my tile bed was my project one: now grows buckwheat for the pigeons and polinators, and is also full of perennial herbs and pollinator flowers / medicinals.
I also grow milo / sorghum, forage peas, and I am still building my black corn seed bank.

I give the pigeons lambs quarters also, and volunteers from their spent grain, but I don't have sufficient grains for just that, or sunny land.

paul wheaton wrote:
This is a movie to teach people about growing food on dirt - an act which will, in time, build good soil.

In time being the thing: I could use my tile bed that I never planted a garden on, but I started building leaves on that 10 years ago. It is now lush, and wild, but I wouldn't recommend growing veggies on it, even though I slip in radishes and round Parisienne carrots myself, because i humanure these days, and it would be cheating anyway because it took 3 years to begin being fertile.

I think our land is too harsh to get a good first year crop of anything other than lambs quarters! Not on most people's menu lol.
...but you have inspired me to give it a try with my neighbour with my saved zucchini seeds alongside the road for this project.

She is already looking forward to a veg patch that I will help her with now she has sufficiently recovered from chronic illness, and that one won't count: it will be getting my black gold. First time success is of the essence!

I would prefer permie credits to pure hard cash. There may be a time when they are worth more too lol

I'm in the wrong climate zone for this, and have mostly developed my growing areas...although 200 square feet is not much ( 20 x 10 feet, 15 x 13.3 feet) so I may still be able to squeeze a demonstration patch in, I'll dust off my microphone....

There needs to be some way to demonstrate that it is dirt and NOT soil.

I gather getting a soil test done is fairly easy in the US? But it does cost. What could be alternatives - dig down and show soil dirt layers with scale?

If I were doing it, I would do it like my natural farming area, or just a simple rotation: potatoes, 2 x roots, beans, brassica,
Seed potatoes: are organic potatoes difficult to source? Is that likely to be a problem?

Optional: an additional 200 square foot plot that is planted with perennials

I'd be inclined not to include that, except as background information, just because it dilutes the simple message that growing food can be done quickly and cheaply.

"ghost acre":  a place where mulches and fertilizers are grown, outside of the 200 square feet.

Anywhere adjacent that is managed better than organic and is walkable/hauled by hand barrow?

If I were doing it I would like to use seaweed as an input, since I am close to the sea. I suspect from the climate map that this would not be an option for the zone 5 growers though. Probably allowed, but not desirable?

Nancy Reading wrote: Seed potatoes: are organic potatoes difficult to source? Is that likely to be a problem?

I've seen a fair number of distributors of it both local and online for the US. A potato patch does sound lovely :)

paul wheaton wrote:Mower?  Give me some context please.

I was imagining driving my mower around the shadow acre to collect grass and weeds for fertilizing mulch rather than using a scythe (which I don't have) or a sickle (which would be slow). But mostly I'm trying to think of things people will want to know and making sure they're thought of up front.

paul wheaton wrote:
Seeds ...   tools ...  

I think organic plant starts are allowed, but I think it would be better to either direct seed or do your own starts.

Anybody have any thoughts about what else should be allowed to be brought in from off site?

If someone wanted to do hugelkultur on a smaller urban / suburban lawn, could they bring in the woody debris?

paul wheaton wrote:

Timothy Norton wrote:I read this as no commercial inputs from outside. I think really the only thing that comes from the outside would be seeds?

Seeds ...   tools ...  

I think organic plant starts are allowed, but I think it would be better to either direct seed or do your own starts.


Anybody have any thoughts about what else should be allowed to be brought in from off site?

We bring firewood from off site (harvested legally from nearby crown land). I was thinking that using the bark from it as mulch. Or a neighbours mold hay (organic or better). I guess I'm trying to think of carbon sources that are organic or better from off site that may be suitable.

I'm thinking of this for selfish reasons as I own very little land myself so a ghost acre is not really possible.

I think the name is good but I'm wondering if it would be wise to play off of trends that are currently sparking people's interested in gardening.

For instance, "Victory gardens" have surfaced again. Or using the freaky cheapness to address the rising costs of food.

Just spit balling, I'll brainstorm some name suggestions today.

Oh! What about fencing materials? I know that I'll be thinking about deer pressure.

I live in a zone 5 or 4 climate in colorado, and i'm starting a garden at my friends place. We want to eventually create a permaculture forest garden. I would love to participate in this movie. I would definitely make 1 200 sq ft annual plot and another 200 sq foot perennial spot. This sounds doable.

I would expand it every year after this initial experiment and I would be HONORED to be featured in your movie.

As for titles, here's a few options

"from dirt to abundance"
"The bountiful patch: organic 200 ft^2 gardening project"
"Cultivating Caloric Wealth"

I have friends who have alpacas, and our school has alpacas, and if they would help us out with alpaca poo, i would want to use that. but if that's not allowed then FINE!!!

How would we get the footage to you? I have a youtube channel i can upload stuff onto, but then if you are to use it in a movie i'd have to take it down because youtube doesn't allow double footage to exist, i think. That's fine, of course.

I agree perennial bed is too much creep: stick with the 200 Sq ft

And no ghost inputs : I think there could be criticism, plus 200 Sq ft on 200 acres verses 200 Sq ft in a city isn't a fair comparison where one can bring in manure grown on site and then theres hugelkulture but hey, I don't know everything for sure

Too easy to cheat and then newbies don't know what they are doing wrong and give up, blaming no green thumbs

Just leaves and twigs and branches etc, maybe even uv sterilized urine but then maybe again not, since our inputs might be from elsewhere... so easy to cheat!

This is going to be harder than at first pass

I think though, that a lot of townies could get in on this if scrounging compost from neighbours were allowed but perhaps that's another project like I think a perennial bed should be (unless the 200 Sq ft is perennial)

Just my 1.48 cents lol

I am pretending for a minute that I could join the fun.  Only ground I have is a north facing steep hillside currently covered in snow.  It has brush and Oregon grape.

I had just begun to consider making a few terraces (using on site stone to build retaining walls, and pulling the hillside down to fill the bed) just to have  a space to grow things, ANYTHING.  Now here comes this wonderful idea.

It’s unlikely I can win in the calorie count, and it’s certainly not “easy” or beginner-friendly, more like an extreme gardening event, and possibly the site would not yield one continuous 200 square foot segment of ground-but if I do it at all, it might be good to document…. but is iPhone video adequate?  That’s a question I have not seen discussed.

Dian Green wrote:Would ash and biochar be okay if they are also from on-site?

Is doing our own testing on the plots okay? I was thinking about trying 1/3 with our non-meat-food-scrap-compost + ash, 1/3 with ash and 1/3 with no additional base inputs and then going with heavy leaf mulch over all of it.

Ash and biochar are okay if from on-site.

Testing to prove "dirt":  I think that the people submitting for this project will be experienced gardeners showing their best stuff.  And I think an experienced gardener could probably think of three different ways to prove to vid peeps that this is dirt, not soil.  I hope that at least one submission says "here is soil from my garden.  I could sneeze seeds on that and come back three months later and there would be a small mountain of food.  And here is dirt.  This is what this project calls for.  It will take a few years of gardening to transform this into soil."

still need a name.  

Maybe the movie can still be called "Grow a Million Calories on Dirt"?   The intro of the movie can talk about the concept of the acre, and how these designs can all be scaled up to an acre.  Hell, at 200 square feet, we should be able to exceed a million calories per acre.

Collecting names from upthread and adding one:

Freaky Cheap Gardening Movie
From Dirt to Food
Food from Dirt: six gardeners
Grow a million calories from awful soil
Grow the most calories from dirt challenge
The results of the Grow Food challenge!
The Best Results of the Grow Food Challenge!
Big Calories From Lame Dirt
Money from nothing and your food for free ( or almost free): cheap, easy , high calorie food gardening
Big Calories from Pitiful Dirt
From Dirt to Soil: A Permie Movie
Raw Land to Garden Bounty: 2024 Permaculture Challenge
The Dirt Derby: Cold Climate Garden Contest
From Dirt to Abundance
The bountiful patch: organic 200 ft^2 gardening project
Cultivating Caloric Wealth
Grow a Million Calories on Dirt
Backyard Alchemy: Free Food From Bad Dirt

Quick question.....Is the zone requirement based on the USDA map or on actual observed temps?  The map shows us as 6a, but we're in a cold microclimate and temps yearly dip into that -13F to -16F range for a few days each winter.....-27F this winter!  If that works we'd be happy to take on this challenge!!

It is just too warm and nice where I live, but this looks like a fun project. Let's see those winter squash and tators.

The strict limits that are given does make this project more difficult requiring a thoughtful design and process. It also makes it easy to duplicate for others once the movie comes out no matter where they live.

I believe the ghost acre is needed as the ultimate goal is to build the soil with the secondary goal as growing food.

I would keep the word permaculture out of the title in hopes of marketing it to a much wider group of people.

Grow Food From Nothing.
Anybody Can Grow Their Own Food
Cheap and Easy Calorie Gardens

"Jack and the Dirt Patch"
"Raiders of the Lost Loam"

I think without some video requirements you could end up with a lot of useless footage.  Probably best to get these from the person that will edit the final video.

What about:
Resolution and frame rate
Landscape orientation only?

@Beau M Davidson gave a good presentation at last year's PTJ about taking footage to be included into WL movie projects- was that recorded?

Ive got a good spot for it. When we moved to our house 7 years ago, there was an inground pool in the backyard. We had a contractor knock the pool into it's own hole, and fill it up with sand and dirt. Then for the last 5 years its's been a weedpatch with a kid's play set in it (so it's nice and compacted and full of weed seeds). The space is 16x23'. Now that the kids are older, the playset is gone and it's going to be my garden space. Unfortunately, it won't qualify for this, as I have offsite materials used, and my chickens that I use in it eat store-bought feed.  But i'll follow along and watch the movie, and hope to learn.

The strict requirements seem good to me though.....if you set the bar high, even too high, people that see this movie can try to meet that standard, and even if they cheat and can't meet it and don't do it the "correct" way, they'll still be doing a damn good job.

I just want to say thank you. This will help so many new gardeners getting started. I won’t be participating for health reasons (had a mini stroke at Christmas), but I know so many other great gardeners will, and I can’t wait to see the results.
These forums has been life changing for me and so many others. The main work on my 33k food forest garden will be finished this spring. I can’t wait to watch it all as it grows in. Having 33k square feet of perennial food growing 12 months a year, will help kept my husband and I fed, once we retire, and it will have minimal maintenance.
So many people stop and ask what we are making and want to start growing food themselves. I always refer them to here, but it can be overwhelming here when you are new. This movie are going to make a big difference in many people’s lives.

I like
From Dirt to Abundance

Simple, and anyone can copy:
Make food from their dirt

Fred Tyler wrote:I think without some video requirements you could end up with a lot of useless footage.  Probably best to get these from the person that will edit the final video.

What about:
Resolution and frame rate
Landscape orientation only?

excellent points!

Name suggestions
Freaky easy gardening movie

i made a gamcod forum where we can start to create official threads for details

https://permies.com/f/508/

paul wheaton wrote:i made a gamcod forum where we can start to create official threads for details

https://permies.com/f/508/

I can’t get access. If it’s on purpose it’s okay, if not, now you know

Ulla Bisgaard wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:i made a gamcod forum where we can start to create official threads for details

https://permies.com/f/508/

I can’t get access. If it’s on purpose it’s okay, if not, now you know

i think i fixed it. please try again.